Well it's not in the Book of Chaos, the 200-page handbook the Cons once put out to disrupt the opposition, and shut down committees.
But it clearly comes from the same cesspool of depravity.
From the same Con operatives who brought you Stephen Harper's catalogue of dirty tricks.
From those in the PMO who would produce along with their talking points, a handy guide to follow in case of an emergency. Or the sudden need to smear an opponent.
(1) When an aboriginal Chief goes on a hunger strike and embarrasses the Crime Minister, make her look bad by leaking a report about how she and her council failed to provide proper documentation for money spent in a remote reserve.
A newly released audit of the federal funding spent by the Attawapiskat First Nation has found significant documentation lacking for the $104 million transferred to the band between 2005-2011.
Just before a big meeting. And make it sound like they are responsible for the horrible poverty many First Nations people are condemned to live in.
Because if you're a Harper Conservative, you can't blame the victims, or please your rabid racist base enough.
(2) When a cabinet minister like Tony Clement is nailed by the Auditor General for handing out millions of Porky Action Plan dollars in a most irregular manner.
According to The Canadian Press, the Jan. 13 draft reveals that then-Industry Minister Tony Clement, the mayor of Huntsville and the general manager of Deerhurst Resort chose the 32 projects that received funding — with no regard for the needs of the summit or the conditions laid down by the government.
First express outrage that the report was leaked, then deny it, then claim the AG gave the Cons high marks for money management, when she didn't. Then promote Tony Clement to Treasury Board President.
Then defy ANYONE to prove that the millionaires of Muskoka didn't need a gazebo in the middle of nowhere...
And then forget it ever happened.
(3) When a Minister like Dean Del Mastro must deal with allegations of election financing irregularities, use it as an excuse to go after anonymous commenters.
Or blame the usual suspects...
Because nothing works better than screaming ADSCAM !!! ADSCAM!!!
When all else fails.
(4) When fingered by the Auditor General for mismanaging the F-35 debacle, cooking the books, and misleading Canadians.
Claim the billion dollar boondoggle has landed...
And then repeat the Big Lie over and over again until enough Canadians believe it.
I mean seriously, can YOU believe it eh?
The nerve of that Con gang to accuse a humble Chief from an impoverished aboriginal community of mismanaging or failing to properly document the peanuts they get from Ottawa. When the Harperite cult has been robbing us blind and stealing our country.
And how dare Stephen Harper treat First Nations people like children? Who is he to pose as Great Bwana Leader? With a sleazy record of dirty tricks like this one.
Oh well. All I can say is that the level of racism in this country sickens me. I can't believe what a grubby land of kooks and cranks we are becoming. They are exploding out of cracks in the walls like cockroaches. What have those Cons done to our country?
And I don't care whether Chief Spence is a good accountant or not. Because she's a symbol of a much larger struggle. I love way she forced Stephen Harper to agree to a meeting. I find her quiet determination inspiring.
So she's still my hero...
For I will never apologize for admiring those who are willing to put themselves on the line, and endure deprivation for what they believe in, in a country as democratically complacent as ours. Or just plain submissive.
And all I would say to the Idle No More movement is don't let those foul Cons distract you from your noble struggle.
For that is the kind of people they are, and why all decent Canadians must defeat them.
March on for justice.
Solidarity forever...
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10 comments:
Hi Simon I took the time today to read the audit report. Turns out the vast majority of discrepancies predate Chief Spence's term and shows a marked improvement under her tenure.
The biggest take away I got from reading this document is just how badly AANDC and the co-mangager failed in carrying out their duties, yet that side of the story isn't being told. I guess it gets in the way of the approved narrative.
Oh and one more thing each of these expenditures were audited on an annual basis and the results accepted by AANDC, well okay two things First Nations are required to fill out 168 separate reports annually with little or no training or support.
The simple truth here is that Harper and the Cons are seriously fucked come the next election. They know this of course and will spend as much time as they have left trying to distract people from their own incompetence. This is only the beginning and I suspect it will only get much worse.
And to add to Kev's comment. Seven straight audits did another firm do, and they found no evidence of wrong doing. Nothing. Even a court case found nothing, and slammed the government's actions.
Hell, all the arithmetic is correct.
And the way this new audit was conducted just stinks. Much of it is nitpicking about things the current band council has little to no control over, such as the quality of the houses built in years prior.
I can't guess at the age of the houses on Attawapiskat, but on my own rez, we have houses over fifty years old, houses over thirty, over twenty, and so on. Generally, they're built in phases. A set of houses at once, generally. Generally, the houses over fifty years need renovations, terribly, as the plans they were based on simply would infuriate Mike Holmes (which, I would add, they have).
Another nitpick the audit had with the band was it kept spending over its budget for housing. Well, duh. That's part of what Chief Spence has been protesting, that the funding for housing on her reserve is too little for what is actually there.
As for how the number of houses exceeded the budget allowance from the government, I don't know. My guess is inflation (band funding is not indexed to inflation, but to some ultra mathematical formula called Community Well-Being Index that was designed by the friggin Fraser Institute; just another way the man is keeping us down, I suppose).
But the government is ignoring political reality. There are dozens of people crammed into poor houses on Attawapiskat. And instead of working for a solution, Harper is doing his damned best to discredit Chief Spence. Well, I'm First Nation, and I'm fucking pissed off with what Harper has done here.
Well, actually, there's more on how houses are built on reserves. Nowadays, bands have to go through a government program. It supplies the blueprints, and the rules for how the houses are built. That this audit is suggesting the band needs to do up a Band Council Resolution stating housing on the reserve needs to be up to Canadian standards, that just strikes me as superfluous. The rules and regulations would have to be met to even get the money in the first place.
And that's to say nothing of the firm that did up this audit. Considering just under half its audits conducted last year were non-compliant with FTC regulations in the USA strikes me as worrisome.
hi Kev...thanks for pointing this out. After reading your comment I also read the report, and now I find the whole thing even more outrageous. For so much of the stuff is so minor, and the only thing that jumped out at me is the criticism that the council wasn't doing enough to evict people for overdue rent. I mean give me a break. Where are the evicted supposed to go? I was quite moved recently to read how the people of Attawapiskat shared their humble possessions. we can learn from them rather than the other way round....
hi Way Way Up...I don't blame you for feeling that way. It was a really cheap move, and Harper and company should be shamed of themselves. Now is the time to reach for the stars not crawl through the gutter. I'm afraid this wasn't a very good post. I was too angry to organize my thoughts properly. But as I told Kev, now that I've read that vacuous report I'm even more outraged....
hi troy...thanks for this informative comment. Now that I've raed the report I find it not grounded in the reality of the situation, and overly picky, like a bloody drill sergeant looking for the slightest crease in your bed. But of course it will be used by the legion of cranky racists in this country to further smear Chief Spence and the Idle No More movement, which absolutely infuriates me. The good news is that all this information and discussion will help decent Canadians better understand the situation, the struggle will continue, and the truth will set us free...
Deloitte is marching to government orders in its pickiness. It does much work for the corporations involved in the oil sands. The same corporations that want to build pipelines across aboriginal lands. Coincidence, I think not. Even an audit can be slanted in what it focusses on.
Anne Peterson
Attawapiskat has had their books approved, by the Canadian government for years. I too read, how much better their bookkeeping has become, since Chief Spence. Her bookkeeping is far superior to Harper's, and a hell of a lot more honest. The F.N. are told where their money has to go to. They have no choice in that say. So much for housing, Health Care, education and so on. Chief Spence has only been the Chief, since 2010. Strangely, Chief Spence won't be audited until March I believe. How can she be accused of misspending money, for this last year? Harper's own words on his x-mas interview. "I am a devout Christian, I pray everyday". Perhaps he meant. I "prey" everyday.
Harper's agenda is. I am the law. I make the rules. www.cpcml.ca That is quite the web site. There was also an article on the Tyee. March 2012. This is understanding Harper's Evangelical Mission. Harper was Policy Chief for his, Northern Foundation Party from 1989. Harper is linked with Christian Fundamentalists, and dubious others. Harper's omnibull bill, also permits China to sue any Canadians getting in China's way. China sued in BC, to take the mining jobs. The F.N. can expect to be sued, if the F.N. and the rest of us, try to block the Enbridge pipeline into BC. Most BC people are supporting the F.N. Their food sources are in peril. So is our beautiful BC province.
Harper isn't trampling on the F.N. rights, he is stomping on them. Harper's omnibull bill, gave himself the right to pollute, waterways, fish and the F.N. hunting grounds, all across Canada. Harper is the Great Dictator of today. He doesn't have to respect the F.N. people nor, consult them. Harper dictates and breaks the F.N. Treaty Rights.
Harper a Christian? My @$$ he is, he's a monster.
hi Anne...I'm probably the lousiest accountant in the world. I can't even do my own simple tax returns. But after reading the audit it seemed to me that Deloitte had gone out of their way to be picky, and extremely harsh on that band council, as if they were some Bay Street company. In fact, if anyone walked through Bay Street I'm quite sure they would encounter more crooks than they ever would in Attawapiskat. So yes I wouldn't be surprised if the audit was tailored to please the Cons...
hi anonymous...yes as I pointed out above Harper is entirely to blame for this crisis. He thought he could do anything and get away with it, and he was wrong. There are so many reasons we need to get rid of that tin pot tyrant, but this has got to be one of the best....
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